quoteThe history of Tousen Jinja (Shrine)
which is familiarly known as the protecting god of Arima Hot Springs says that Onamuchi no mikoto and Sukunahikonano mikoto discovered Arima Hot Springs. When the two gods visited Arima, three injured crows drank water from a pool. A few days later, they found the pool curing their injuries, which proved the pool was a Spa.

Only these three crows who found the place of the Spa were permitted to live in Arima and are called
“Three crows of Arima 有馬の三羽烏 ”
An Imperial visit of the 34th Emperor Jomei (593 – 641) and the 36th Emperor Koutoku (596 - 654) made the name of Arima popular. Jomeiki of Nihonshoki, Chronicles of Japan, says The Emperor Jomei stayed at Arima-Ontouguu (shrine) in Settsu to enjoy bathing for 86 days from September 9th till December 13th since 631.

Shakuni honki, a commentary of Chronicles of Japan, says the Emperor Koutoku liked Arima Hot Springs and he stayed there for 82 days with his ministers, Abe-no-Kurahashimaro and Soga-no-Ishikawamaro and his guardians for 82 days from October 11th till his Imperial vist on New Year’s Eve in 647.

The monk Gyoki enshrined
Arima Hot Springs History tells the story that Arima Hot Springs declined gradually after the famous period of the Imperial visit of the Emperor Jomei and Koutoku. The monk Gyoki founded and rebuilt the Arima Hot Springs.
Gyoki whom the Emperor Shomu (701 – 756) trusted deeply was a high monk who dedicated himself to building ponds and bridges, digging ditches and enshrined temples.

Photo by Pedro Teixeira da Mota

When Gyoki dug a big pond in Koya Itami, northern part of Osaka plain, he met one person. The person pleaded with Gyoki, “I have a bad tumor and it has made me suffer for a long time. I heard the Spa in Arima mountain cures illness. Could you kindly take me there?” To meet the person’s demand, Gyoki took the person to Arima and fulfilled the person’s wishes. Then the person changed to a gold solemn Buddha and rode the clouds to fly to the east. ...

The father of restoration, Ninsai
In 1097, a natural disaster attacked Arima. “The OnsenSpa temple History” tells
“The flood attacked many houses and the spa collapsed in the 1st year of the Emperor Horikawa’s reign”. Nobody tried to restore Arima for 95years since that flood.

The monk Ninsai who came from Yoshino in Nara Prefecture restored the devastated Arima just after Heike(Taira family) had lost at Genpei-gassen(war between Taira family and Minamoto family).

When Ninsai who was the chief priest of Kougenji (Temple) in Yamato area of Yoshino visited Kumanogongen, he had a dream that told him to go to the devastated Arima Hot Springs to restore it. ...

Hideyoshi rebuilt Arima
Arima had prospered for a few hundred years in spite of the chaos since the Muromachi era (1336-1573) till the Sengoku era (1467-1573).
In 1528, a conflagration attacked Arima and changed it from a peaceful health resort to a wasteland after three hundred years since Ninsai’s restoration.
Moreover in 1545, when the Miki castle owner Bessho with a huge army attacked Miyoshi-Souzan-Seichou whose castle was located at Ochibayama behind Zenpuku-ji(Temple), Arima was also hugely damaged. In Tenshou 4 (1576), another conflagration destroyed Arima completely before being rebuilt..In the Edo era
Since the Edo period Arima kept its prosperity and was under the direct control of the government.

But in those days, every hotel did not have their own Spa and shared one public Spa in each town. All bathers had to go out to take a bath. The system of bathing was completely different from today’s system though the Spa became more famous and more bathers visited here after Hideyoshi’s bathing and reconstruction.

The bathhouse was originally seven mats long and three mats broad and the bath tub was 2 jo (about 6.06m) and 1 jo (about 3.03m) and separated in the middle to make two square bath tubs. The front side was called “Ichinoyu” and the behind side “Ninoyu” and the depth was 3 shaku and 7 -8 sun (about 30cm).

Twelve temple lodgings which Ninsai had opened were increased by twelve after Hideyoshi’s construction and managed as hotels. Ten temple lodgings were in charge of Ichinoyu and Ninoyu and each lodging had two Yuna (helper for bathing). As the number of bathers increased, the number of hotels increased because temple lodgings started to have “Koyado” (Inns).

In the latter half of the Edo era (1603-1867), the people started to visit shrines, temples and Spas. Guideposts helped their travel and you can find the old guideposts in Arima Hot Springs still now.

quoteTwo Gods and Three Crows of Arima 有馬の三羽烏
In olden times, the gods Onamuchi-no-Kami 大己貴命 and Sukunahikona-no-Kami 少彦名命descended to earth one day and saw three injured crows bathing in a puddle. Some days passed when the gods happened again upon the three crows. To their amazement, the crows had been cured. Thinking this was remarkable, they took a closer look at the puddle and discovered that it was, in fact, a hot spring with a miraculous healing effect. This is how the world came to know the magical properties of the hot springs of Arima.
From this day forward, the crows and two gods have been worshipped as guardian deities of Arima Onsen.

There is a sloping path called "Slope of Wish" extending from Onsenji Temple to Nenbutsuji Temple. Along the way there is "Garden of Wish", where there are statues of the three crows and Saint Gyoki. The gods Onamuchi-no-Kami and Sukunahikona-no-Kami are worshipped at the Tosen Shrine.

quote
It is said that Saint Kennyo 顕如上人 gifted an Arima Basket to Nene, wife of Hideyoshi, as an Arima souvenir. The basket is also a bamboo craft which Sen no Rikyu 千利休 visiting Arima with Taikou Hideyoshi ordered to make as one of his tea ceremony’s tools.
Now most tea ceremony participants order the basket.source : www.arima-onsen.com

We have continued the same traditional way to make Matsutake konbu (Japanese mushroom and sea weeds boiled down with soy sauce) since Muromachi era (1336-1573). To take a long time to boil and season it with soy sauce, liquor, mirin (sweet sake for seasoning) and sugar brings out the great deliciousness.

tansan senbei 炭酸センベイ carbonated crackers

Prepared with the bubbeling carbonated water from Arima hot spring.
It is said that carbonated water gushing out in Arima gave a hint to make Tansan Senbei in 1907.

Though the taste is really simple mixed with wheat flour and the carbonated water and tasted of sugar and salt, only the professional confectioner can provide the same great taste coping with changeable temperature and humidity.source : www.arima-onsen.com

The preface’s Tenmantenjin 天満天神 Heaven-Filling-Heaven-God
is the 心霊 divine-spirit of Sugawara no Michizane.

砂糖よりあまみつ神のいますこそ山蜂多く有馬なるらめ
Koufuu 行風

Sweeter than sugar our Heaven-filling Honey-God must be why
Deep in the Arima hills we see so many hornets in the sky!

satou yori amamitsu kami no imasu koso
yamabachi ooku arima narurame

(sugar-more-than-sweet-water=heaven-filling-god/s
are especially / many hornet/s may have=arima is)

This playful waka, or mad-poem (kyouka), captures the loving and vengeful spirit of Michizane. I found it among thousands of these poems published c.1670 in a series about various resort locations. This was written at or for the Tenman-Tenjin 天満天神 shrine in Arima (springs claimed to cure everything but “broken-hip/back” poetry*), by the participating editor of the Arima volume, Koufuu, who, by the way, was the editor of the three major kyouka anthologies of the 17c that, together with one substantial personal collection by a brilliant individual,
Mitoku, first established kyouka as a full-fledged literary genre, though the titles of those anthologies called them ikyoku 夷曲 or savage-songs.

Details.
The puns on “amamitsu,” a heavenly pillow-word for gods as “sweet” or “sweet-honey” and of the “ari” in Arima as “to be” or “too have” (the kanji favors the latter) are very common in kyouka, but the combination here is unique. As the verb “imasu,” a polite way of saying a god is present, parallels the “ari” and, if I am not mistaken, makes the hornets proof the god is in, also. That is, the original poem works both ways, with Michizane explaining the multitude of hornets and the hornets proving his presence.
Finally, hornets are literally “mountain-hachi” where “h/bachi” is a generic term including bees, wasps and hornets. As such, the link to honey that is not utterly lost in Japanese as it is with the (as angry as a ~ ) hornet in English.
Unfortunately, I could not fit all that into my translation.

* koshi-ore uta 腰折歌 Hipbreak poems:
where the transition from first to last part is bad. It ranges from the partially disjointed awkward to the badly fractured. Though considered synonymous with poor poetry, kyouka poets also use it for comic effect.